Joint elements of five law enforcement units seized over P60,000 worth of illegal drugs and arrested two men, including a barangay tanod, in a buy-bust operation in Viga town last Sunday noon.
The Catanduanes Provincial Police Office said in its report that the 38-year-old tanod and his 30-year-old companion were collared after selling a sachet of shabu to a police officer posing as a buyer at around 12:45 PM of Aug. 30, 2026 in barangay San Roque.
Personnel from the Catanduanes Police Provincial Office–Provincial Intelligence Unit (PIU) conducted the anti-drug operation, together with Viga Municipal Police Station (MPS), Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 5 (RPDEU 5), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Catanduanes, and Catanduanes 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company (PMFC).
Confiscated from the unidentified suspects were five (5) heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing suspected shabu, the buy-bust money, a mobile phone, a motorcycle, and other non-drug items.
They will face charges for violations of Sections 5 and 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, for the sale and possession of dangerous drugs.
A source told the Tribune that the incident actually occurred in barangay San Isidro and identified the suspects as Christopher Gabyosa Alvarez, reportedly tagged as a High-Value Individual, and one Carlo Torno Tongac, a Street-Level Individual.
It is claimed that the shabu seized from the targets weighed almost 10 grams and had a street value of about P66,000.00.
The non-drug items seized during the operation included a smart phone, a genuine P500 bill and five counterfeit bills of the same amount utilized as “budol” money, an unsealed plastic sachet, a brown wallet and the motorcycle used by the suspects.